The Fall of a Hero
by Aim 1.0
Summary: Finn recalls the last adventure he had with Jake.


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**The Fall of a Hero**

By: DNSLC of X1-1R

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"_Where am I?" _

_I find myself sitting under a tree. As the cool gentle mountain air blows across my face, I catch a whiff of the sweet scent of daisies with each breeze that passes by._

"_This isn't any part of Ooo I've been to before," I said._

_I heard Jake's voice calling out to me, "Finn."_

"_Where are we?" I ask him. _

_Curiosity begins to fiddle with my imagination and it gets the best of me. In my head, I envisioned that a great vast valley lay before us; birds of all kinds flying above, chanting their song of joy._

"_Open your eyes, dude" he replied._

_I slowly open my eyes to finally see what paradise I managed to get us into now. The blinding light of a thousand suns has hit my eyes and then I hear a scream, as if thousands of people are getting killed..._

_WAAAAAAHHHHH!_

My own scream of horror and pain wakes me up. Eyes wide open, every inch of my body feels paralyzed. Fear could be seen instilled in the very soul of my eyes. My heart is racing, the river that flows within me pulsating in every fiber of my being. My breath grew heavy; I felt a gargantuan weight placed upon my chest. Desperately, I tried to catch my breath, but my attempts seemed futile.

"_A dream,_" I sighed, "_it was all just a dream, just the memories of what used to be._"

I woke up, with dirt as my only companion in bed. Walls filled with cobwebs and the floor conquered by armies of dust mites with their castles of dust. I manage to gradually get the strength to sit up, with bones still shaking. My body still bandaged and almost mortally wounded; every square inch covered in either cuts or bruises. I can hardly move without the feeling of my broken ribs piercing my lungs with each breath, like a knife that slowly penetrates deeper the more I try to take it out.

I get out of bed and look outside my window. What once were trees of green and grasslands full of all kinds of flowers are now barren wastelands. They are just desolate ruins of the battles that took place. The soil that drowned in the blood of all those who perished in the war now is without life, no plants could grow on it anymore. The rotting carcasses of those who fought are scattered as far as the eye could see. The skies looked as though they were cursed to be forever drenched in the blood of the innocents.

It had been weeks but still I could not bear the sight of it all. I could not accept it in my mind, my heart, and my soul. The bodies of all my friends...all of them, are dead and decaying with each passing moment. The pain of seeing them dead, especially Jake, is extremely excruciating and unbearable. The torments I face, every time I see their corpses and their graves, are unimaginable on all levels.

I wasted hours thinking, accessing the recesses of my memory, recalling the events that lead to that terrible tragedy.

After hours of constant staring at the devastation outside my window, I remember the only entity capable of that level of destruction, that level of chaos and genocide.

The Lich is just a myth to many, a story old folks used to scare children to behave, but I know otherwise. I have seen the Lich for what he truly was; an entity of pure evil, a being of malevolence and of demonic power.

He was once man, but not anymore. The Lich became a dark shadow of the great wizard he once was, his soul corrupted by vengeance, greed, and power.

When we last fought, his mere presence made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. His was the scent of death and decay. Fabled to be immortal, his powers were second to none.

After that incident, I thought the Lich died for good. Never have I been so wrong in my life.

The Lich managed to seal a part of his soul in another host, a common earthworm. He used the worm as vessel, feeding on decomposing corpses to strengthen himself.

When he went back to full power, he exacted his vengeance on the Land of Ooo; polluting the minds of the weak with dreams of grandeur in exchange for complete allegiance to him.

He managed to turn every kingdom against one another. When the larger kingdoms remained, he corrupted the souls of its people, like a simple virus turned into an epidemic plague. Brother against brother, family against family, they turned on each other under the influence and control of the Lich.

It was all coming back to me. All the memories and all the pain I felt that day pierced my heart like a sharp knife was impaling my very soul. In the reminiscence of all that pain and anguish, I cried myself to a deep slumber and dreamt it all again...

_Thousands could be seen slaughtering each other; ripping limbs, hacking necks, decapitating anything that moved. The sound of bones breaking resounded in my head over and over. The rusty scent of blood smelled everywhere and guts flew under red skies. Lightning flashed and thunder crashed from the skies. Howls of immense pain echoed throughout Ooo. _

_I had to do something, and so I did. I tried to reason with them, but something did not feel right. I knew something was up, and then I saw it in their eyes. Their souls fully corrupted; blackened as death itself._

_ All of them assaulted me, weapons at the ready. I tried evading their attacks, but they kept going at me relentlessly. Their numbers were too many to block all the attacks, let alone evade them. I had no other choice; I withdrew my sword and defended myself. _

_ I slashed and hacked at anything within the four foot reach of my Demon sword. They were not my friends anymore, they were nothing but mindless zombies bent on killing. My sword shattered skulls to thin their numbers. It was not easy for me to slay my friends just to protect myself. But nothing could compare to what happened with Jake and PB._

_ After days of fighting, the non-stop battle wore me out. My body ached, but I still had to fight. _

"_The only way to end this battle is if I kill them all. No one can survive; no exceptions, not even Jake or PB." I said._

_ I thought I would never have to utter those words when I saw that PB and Jake's souls got corrupted as well. The thought of striking down my best friend and the love of my life was too much. I almost gave up on hope and life itself, but I did not because I was a hero, and heroes never give up._

_ I swore that they will not die by my blade, but they had to die all the same. I felt the trickle of blood, sweat, rain and tears on my face, I swallowed, dug up all the remaining strength I had and made my move. In my head, I made my last goodbyes to both of them._

_ I grabbed PB's neck from behind, triggered a pressure point in the nape that renders an individual paralyzed and started decapitating her head using my bare hands. PB struggled with all her might. Blood squirted everywhere. The skin on her neck stretched until it tore from her shoulders. She screamed violently as her head was ripped from her body. Her bubblegum hair engulfed my face as I held her head as though in triumph. I threw her head near her lifeless twitching corpse._

_ From the corner of my eye, I saw something moving and moving fast. Jake charged at me like a raging animal. I jumped onto his back with the intention of putting him to the ground. I took both his arms and twisted them without mercy to breaking point. After a few seconds, I thought I had no more strength, and then I heard it, the snapping of both his elbows and shoulders._

_ It did not end there. Like the animal he became, Jake still persisted to attack me even with both arms rendered useless. From somewhere deep in the recesses of my subconscious, I summoned the will to end it. Ruthlessly I punched his head again and again and pummeled his face to a pulp as he tried to push me off of him. I felt the breaking of both the bones in my hand and the bones in his face. Blood kept splattering everywhere and I had to end it quick. So I took the nearest rock and used it to hammer the remains of Jake's already shattered skull into oblivion. I struck his head repeatedly until his body laid motionless. I stood up drenched in the blood of my own best friend._

_ I fell crying in the rain between the corpses of two people I held most dear in my life._

I woke up again with tears still falling from my eyes.

The year is 2029, weeks after the war that wiped out nearly all life on this pathetic godforsaken piece of rock; this sorry excuse for a planet. I am the only one left.

I miss my friends; I miss the life we used to have. Sometimes I can still hear Jake laughing when I am sleeping, I feel him warming me up on cold nights. I still dream of PB, whenever I lose my train of thought. Sometimes I hallucinate and see all of them, all my friends still alive.

I think I am going crazy, or maybe I have gone crazy in this bitter loneliness. Even heroes have their limits. Seeing my friends kill each other took a big chunk of my humanity, but killing them myself, I do not know what is left of me. I am nothing now, just an empty shell of the man I used to be.

I know that in my dreams, and in my memories they live. I just cannot take it all anymore.

After scouting the ruins for days, I found a worn out book, a Book of Potions still drenched in the blood of whoever held it last. Upon careful and tedious study of the book's content, I found it, the solution:

"_Dormientes ad Mortem - _a potion that induces heavy sleep but gradually kills the victim..._"_

It took me a few days to conjure up the potion, but finally I did it! I managed to conjure up a _Dormientes ad Mortem _potion.

"Jake, buddy, just wait. I'm coming for you."

These were my last words. I bid my last farewell to whatever was left. Without hesitation, I drank the potion. I knew that when all this is over, I will be with them and I will stay there with them forever. It was the only way I could be with them again because I do not want to be alone anymore.

My limbs become paralyzed, my breaths grow shallower. The poison begins to take effect. My eyes close as a single tear falls from my cheek. The vile drops to the floor and shatters...

_I found myself sitting under a tree again. I hear the waves crashing against the shore; I catch a whiff of the salty sea air fill up my nose._

"_Where am I? Jake?" I asked, "Is it finally over?"_

_I hear Jake's voice calling out to me, "Finn."_

"_Jake? Where are we?"_

"_Open your eyes, dude. It's over, we're home." he replied. THE END._


End file.
